Passenger aircraft, as originally equipped, include overhead bins for the storage of passenger carry-on luggage. Usually, these bins are located overhead on either side of the aisle, above the passenger seating space. In larger, wide-bodied aircraft, such as the Boeing 747, luggage bins are also provided above the central passenger seating space, in order to provide additional luggage storage capacity. Typically, passenger service units, air conditioning ducting, and emergency equipment for breathing are located in close proximity to the overhead bins.
In recent years, passengers have increasingly tended to travel with larger amounts of carry-on luggage, thereby placing a premium on available overhead luggage bin storage space. Because a large proportion of the world's existing aircraft fleet was built before this growing demand for carry-on luggage space, airlines using these aircraft find themselves in a less competitive position as compared to airlines using more modem aircraft that are equipped with larger original-equipment overhead bins. While airlines using these older aircraft have an identified need to upgrade and expand their carry-on luggage capacity to meet passenger demands, existing methods and retrofit assemblies for expanding carry-on luggage capacity are expensive, requiring lengthy aircraft out-of-service time. A standard type of aircraft retrofit would therefore significantly impact the costs and revenues of airlines, which frequently are already faced with thin profit margins due to intense competition in the industry.
Airlines that have aircraft with limited overhead storage space require an overhead luggage bin retrofit assembly that is rapid to install, thereby reducing aircraft out-of-service time and manpower costs; requires minimal, if any, modification to the existing aircraft bin support structure to support larger replacement luggage bins; and that meets all applicable regulatory safety requirements. Our prior patent application U.S. Ser. No. 08/516,908 filed Aug. 18, 1995, hereby fully incorporated by reference, disclosed and claimed overhead centerline bin retrofit assemblies that are compatible with the existing centerline bin support structure in an aircraft cabin. The existing support structure referred to in that disclosure usually includes a longitudinally extending rectangular box beam assembly or "spline" that is centrally mounted to the aircraft frame and extends downward into the cabin. The replacement bins were affixed to the spline, which remained in place.